Most parents would do anything to decrease their children's risk of behavioral problems, psychosocial stress, alcohol use, and sexual experimentation. But most don't know that one thing that they can do to delay or eliminate these problems for girls is to prevent obesity.

Sound strange? Not when you consider that recent research suggests that childhood overweight and obesity may be contributing to earlier onset of puberty in girls, some as early as 9 years old. And many previous studies have shown that early puberty is associated with stress and behavioral problems as well as earlier experimentation with alcohol and sexual activity.

Labels: health problems, puberty, substance abuse